System for user-friendly creation of a searchable database of creative products

ABSTRACT

A system including one or more servers, each server communicably coupled to a first user device and a second user device, the one or more servers being configured to receive, from the first user device, information regarding a project of an artist, create project data based on the received information regarding the project, the project data comprising a name and at least one of a type, a language, a description, a start date, an estimated completion date, a prospective release date and/or a revenue goal, store the project data in a database of the one or more servers, and transmitting or providing, via a network or website, information associated with the stored project data to the second user device.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/658,477, filedOct. 23, 2012, pending, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.No. 12/985,157, filed Jan. 5, 2011, abandoned, which is a continuationof U.S. application Ser. No. 10/403,398, filed Mar. 31, 2003, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,885,887, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/394,974, filed Jul. 9, 2002. The disclosures of theprior applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a system of servers, which are configuredto allow users (e.g., artists) to create a database of searchablerecords, which include data about the project, data about containersassociated with the project and data about information associated withthe containers. The database provides the opportunity for users, such asartists who lack exposure, to provide structured information to otherusers (e.g., fans, patrons) in an easily accessible manner. Further, thecomputer servers are further configured to allow the user (e.g., artist)to provide entitlements, products or services to other users, when acondition has been met (e.g., a user accepts an offer for a container, auser reaches a certain level of patronage).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A substantial majority of artists, authors and performers havedifficulty in producing and/or distributing creative works which areeconomically beneficial to the artist without losing the rights (andtherefore much of the royalties) of the creative works or sacrificing asignificant portion of the sale price. Specifically, with regard tomusical creations, the majority of musicians find it incrediblydifficult, if not impossible, to record, market and distribute asong/album to their fans and make a profit, unless the artist has arecording contract with a record company, and the song/album is wellreceived (well sold) by fans and/or the public. In fact, even if theartist has a recording contract, artists generally make little to nomoney from recording an album since artists are either required to payfor producing the album up front, or through sales of the album. If thelatter, most times sales of the album do not cover those costs. Thus,artists generally don't make any money from making albums and oftentimes are never able to recoup the costs of making the album.

For example, according to the publication, “This Business of Music” theartist royalty on a typical record album is as follows: new artistsusually typically receive 7 to 12 percent of the suggested retail listprice for domestic sales. In the case of a superstar, the royalty ondomestic sales may start at 15 percent or more of the suggested retailprice. Accordingly, here is a typical all-in royalty calculation on a$14.98 compact disc where the artist's base royalty is 12 percent:

12 percent−3 percent (producer's royalty)=9 percent

9 percent×0.75 (25 percent reduction for packaging)=6.75 percent

6.75 percent×0.85 (15 percent for “free goods”)=5.74 percent

5.74 percent×0.80 (20 percent reduction for CDs)=4.59 percent

4.59 percent×0.65 (35 percent reduction for reserves)=2.98 percent

2.98 percent of $14.98=$0.447.

The profit per album for superstars is only modestly more, about $0.56.However, superstars generally sell enough albums to cover recording anddistribution costs. However, the above royalty calculations do not takeinto account items charged against an artist's royalty account, such asvideo production costs or independent promotion costs.

Another problem with the current recording business model is copyrightinfringement from the trading of digital copies of artists' creationsover the Internet (for example) using peer-to-peer file sharingnetworks. Currently, both artists and the recording industry are losingmillions (or perhaps billions) of dollars in lost sales due to thepiracy of copyrighted works.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a method and/or system which willallow artists, for example, to raise capital on their own and profit forproducing a creative work, preferably prior to producing the work, andpreferably without a recording contract with a recording company.

Another problem for up-and-coming artists is the lack of exposure to abroad audience. Without signing a contract with a record company, it hasbeen virtually impossible for new artists to gain the exposure they needto sustain grow financially and creatively. Accordingly, there is a needfor a broader more effective method for artists to develop a larger fanbase without sacrificing the majority of their profits or theirintellectual property.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the invention addresses the above-noted problems with thecurrent business model of different artist industries (especially therecording industry) and presents systems and methods for financingcreative works, marketing creative works, and addresses the needs ofartists, fans, industry and investors.

The invention may also include a web based application, ArtistShare,which may provide products and services to artists, fans/patrons,industry and investors that enable them to either separately orcollectively, create, finance, sell, buy, distribute or invest in new orexisting creative works. The invention may also offer artists a uniqueway to develop their audience and enhance relationships with their fansand/or patrons using, for example, existing file-sharing networks.

The advantages for artists may include:

-   -   Increased revenue. Musicians, for example, may realize greater        revenue than a traditional recording contract with a recording        company all proceeds after expenses go to the artist;    -   A smaller fan/patron base is needed to generate greater revenue        and produce a profit;    -   Reduced risk and recoup time on investment and/or the        elimination of any personal out of pocket expenses;    -   Artist retains ownership and control of all rights associated        with the creative work and/or the artist;    -   No prohibiting or unfair contracts (recording contracts for        example);    -   A single system that may provide all necessary services to        market their creative works to the public and collect financing        for their creative works;    -   Direct exposure to other industries;    -   Freedom to be creative in many ways (e.g., creating incentives        for patrons);    -   Lesser known artists or artists of different genres may have the        opportunity to gain more exposure and thus build a larger fan        base through an Artist Affiliate program where an artist of any        level or genre (preferably artists of a higher or more diverse        profile) can advertise or promote another artist to their        existing fan base in exchange for a percentage of each sale        generated by the promotion. The sales may be tracked by special        variables contained in the links, or any other means familiar to        those of ordinary skill in the art.    -   Any artist big or small may enjoy increased revenue by        advertising or recommending fellow artists from any genre and        collecting referral fees' for each sale generated through the        Artist Affiliate program.        The advantages for the fan or patron may include:    -   Opportunities to obtain one-of-a-kind and/or collectable items        from the artist, as well as an opportunity to establish a more        personal relationship with the artist;    -   The ability to maintain an account which allows them access to        purchase items, services, special offers, contests, and the        like, offered by participating artists    -   A client specific application(s) operable on a computer system        of a fan which may act as a private portal to ArtistShare        artists, projects and products.

Industry, industry professionals and other interested individuals alsoreceive benefits from the invention, which may include:

-   -   Reduction in risk of investment due to the increased ability to        predict the success of a product based on the results of the        initial online offering by the artist;    -   Increased effectiveness of direct target marketing through the        analysis of popularity and demographic statistics generated by        ArtistShare system;    -   Decreased overhead expenses by purchasing physical inventory        directly from ArtistShare thus eliminating the middle tier.    -   Reduced or eliminated need to purchase and stock physical        inventory.    -   Obtain a competitive edge by partnering with ArtistShare or an        artist to    -   Access to a large and convenient searchable pool of licensable        content for resale, distribution, syndication etc.    -   Opportunities to purchase or bid on an artist's work for        commercial re-sale. Record distributors, for example, may be        provided with opportunities to purchase rights for printing and        distributing compact discs;    -   Retail sales outlets, for example, may be provided with        opportunities to purchase or bid on merchandising rights        directly from the artist or a participating recording/publishing        company/distributor;    -   Industry and Industry professionals may also be provided with        tools for analyzing patterns of online sales, so that the        interested party may make an informed decision to develop        products while reducing risk and production expenses;    -   Industry may be provided branding services and corporate        sponsorship opportunities for linking their products and/or        services to an artist and their work (music for example) to        reach their respective demographic market.

Investors and other interested individuals also receive many benefitsfrom the invention, which may include:

-   -   The ability to re-sell (outright sale or auction) their rights        at any time;    -   Reduction in risk of investment due to the increased ability to        predict the success of a product based on the results of the        initial online offering by the artist.    -   Investors may be provided with means to buy, sell and trade        publishing rights, copyrights and intellectual property rights        in new or existing works so that the investor may collect        licensing royalties for, in turn, licensing the creative work.    -   Investment tools may also be provided which allows the investor        to determine the value of such rights.

The invention may make use of a combination of existing, proven businessmodels including banking, patron systems, merchandising partnerships,direct marketing, publishing, file sharing and internet networking, filecompression , audio/video technologies, and online auctions (forexample).

Accordingly, in a first aspect of the present invention, a method forgenerating capital for a project of an artist may include transmittingdata from a server to a client via a network for presenting an offerfrom the artist, for example, to an interested party, the offer for anentitlement related to a project in exchange for capital for theproject, for example, and the project includes at least one or morecreative works by the artist or other party. The method also includesreceiving at the client such data and presenting the offer to theinterested party, accepting the offer by the interested party, receivingdata at the server from the client accepting the offer and processing ofthe acceptance data by the server.

In another aspect of the invention, a method for generating capital fora project of an artist is provided and may include communicating anoffer by an artist, for example, to an interested party for anentitlement which may be related to the artist at a predetermined levelof patronage among a plurality of levels of patronage in exchange for acorresponding predetermined amount of capital for the project. Theproject may include at least one creative work. The method may alsoinclude acceptance of the offer by the interested party for patronage inthe project at one of the levels of patronage among the plurality oflevels and providing the entitlement in exchange for the capital.

In another aspect of the present invention, a system for generatingcapital for a project of an artist may include transmitting means fortransmitting data from a server to a client via a network for presentingan offer from the artist, for example, to an interested party. The offermay be for an entitlement related to the artist in exchange for capitalfor the project, where the project may include one or more creativeworks of the artist. The system may also include receiving means forreceiving at the client such data and presenting the offer to theinterested party, transmitting means for transmitting data back to theserver from the client accepting the offer and processing means forprocessing the acceptance data by the server.

In yet another aspect of the invention, a system for raising capital byan artist for a project is provided, where the project may include oneor more creative works of the artist. The system may includecommunicating means for communicating an offer by an artist to aninterested party for patronage in the project at a predetermined levelof patronage among a plurality of levels of patronage in exchange for acorresponding predetermined amount of capital for financing the project,for example. Each level of patronage may include an associatedentitlement related to the artist. The system may also includeacceptance means for accepting the offer by a patron for patronage inthe project at one of the levels of participation among the plurality oflevels.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of managing a rightin a creative work is provided and may include collecting information ona plurality of creative works, each creative work having one or morecorresponding rights for sale or license, storing the information in asearchable database, offering individuals an opportunity to purchase atleast one of the one or more right in at least one of the creative worksof the plurality of creative works and purchasing the one or morerights.

In another aspect of the present invention, a system for generatingcapital for a project of an artist is provided, where the project mayinclude one or more creative works. The system may include a databasefor storing information related to a plurality of creative works whereeach creative work having a respective owner. The system also includes aserver hosting an application for presenting an offer from the owner ofa respective creative work to an interested party. The offer may be foran entitlement related to the creative work in exchange for capital forthe project. The server communicates with a client for presenting theoffer to the interested party.

In another aspect of the invention, a method of creating capital for anartist, for example, is provided and may include registering, by atleast one artist, with a centralized database, at least one or more of acompleted creative work and/or one or more of an uncompleted creativework. The method also may include offering, by the at least one artist,an entitlement related to the at least one of the completed creativework and/or the at least one of the uncompleted creative work inexchange for capital, for example, for a project of the artist or otherparty, where the project may include at least one or more secondcreative works. The method further may include searching, by aninterested party, the centralized database, for the least one artist,registering, by the interested party, with the centralized database,accepting the offer, by the interested party, for the entitlement,forwarding of the capital to the artist and receiving the entitlement bythe interested party.

In yet another aspect of the invention, a system for creating capitalfor an artist or other party is provided and may include a server havingone or more application programs operable from a remote client forregistering, by at least one artist, with a centralized database, atleast one or more of a completed creative work and/or one or more of anuncompleted creative work, presenting an offer, by the at least oneartist, to an interested party for an entitlement related to, forexample, the at least one of the completed creative work and/or the atleast one of the uncompleted creative work in exchange for capital for aproject of the artist, the project comprising one or more secondcreative works. The application programs may also be operable to presenta query interface for allowing a search, by an interested party, of thecentralized database, for the least one artist, registration, by theinterested party, with the at least one artist found in a query of thecentralized database and/or a second database of interested parties andaccepting of the offer by the remote client, by the interested party,for the entitlement.

In another aspect of the present invention, a web page for generatingcapital for a project of a first artist is provided and may include anadvertisement for the project of the first artist, the projectcomprising at least one creative work of the first artist and a linkregarding an offer for an entitlement related to the first artist inexchange for capital for the project, wherein the link allows theinterested individual to accept the offer and provide the capital.

Other aspects of the invention include computer application programs andcomputer readable media, for performing one or more of the methodsrecited in the above-noted aspects, as well as web pages and the likefor presenting the various aspects of the invention over the Internet(for example).

These and other advantages, objects and features of the invention willbe apparent through the detailed description of the embodiments and thedrawings attached hereto. It is also to be understood that both theforegoing general description and the following detailed description areexemplary and not restrictive of the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TILE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting an overview of the ArtistShare systemaccording to the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computer system operational forperforming the methods and process according to embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a business logic diagram of ArtistShare systemaccording to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a kiosk system according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a process flow for an artist promotingand funding a project.

FIGS. 6-22 are block diagrams illustrating attributes of one or more webpages and/or one or more links for managing an artist account in anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23A is a block diagram illustrating attributes of one or moreweb-pages and/or one or more links for fans accessing the ArtistSharesystem according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 23B-42 are block diagrams illustrating attributes one or more webpages and/or one or more links for public web pages of the ArtistSharesystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 43-49 are block diagrams illustrating attributes one or more webpages and/or one or more links for member pages of the ArtistSharesystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 50-57 are block diagrams illustrating attributes one or more webpages and/or one or more links for the management of fan accountsaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 58-62 are block diagrams illustrating attributes one or more webpages and/or one or more links for industry accounts according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention will be described with reference most times to the musicalrecording industry and musical recording artists. However, the presentinvention has much broader application to industries related to creativeworks in art, writing, film, photography and any other creative projector work and corresponding industry.

Terminology:

An Artist may be, but is not limited to, an author, musician, composer,painter, sculptor, filmmaker, actor/actress, software engineer,architect and any other individual(s) who authors or creates a new work.A Fan may be, but is not limited to, a consumer, admirer or follower,mentor and any other individual(s) interested in the Artist's work.A Patron may be, but is not limited to, a fan (a consumer, admirer orfollower, mentor and the like) that registers with ArtistShare and/orcontributes to or purchases an Artist's project, work or the actualArtist.An Investor may be, but is not limited to a patron or group of patrons,corporations, private companies, and any individual(s) interested, forexample, in JP investment, corporate branding through advertising,partnership or any other business relationship with an artist or anartist's work.An Industry individual of entity may be, but is not limited toinvestors, record companies, publishers, movie production companies,retail outlets, product distributors, and the like, or any individual(s)interested in financing, marketing, advertising, selling, licensing ordistributing an artist's work.

Overview of Some of The Embodiments The Invention

The invention may be directed to the following embodiments which may beinter-related and may be used separately or may be used to complementone another to form a systematic and comprehensive system for funding,marketing, purchasing, licensing and distributing creative works andtalent.

Group I. In a first grouping of embodiments, methods and systems areprovided which may allow artists to raise capital for funding a project(e.g., song, album, etc.), or market an existing work (or service) tofans and users (industry professionals, other artists, and the like)through an Internet (for example) portal.

In some related embodiments of Group I, a system and method forlesser-known artists or artists of different genres for increasing theirexposure is provided. This allows the lesser-known artist or an artistof a different genre to build a larger fan base. Specifically, thisembodiment may allow an artist of any level or genre (preferably artistsof a higher or more diverse profile) to advertise or recommend on a homepage of the artist (or other web page) another artist to their existingfan base in exchange for a percentage of each sale generated by therecommendation. The sales are tracked by one or more variables containedin one or more links to the associated artist. Thus, any artist big orsmall can enjoy increased exposure and/or revenue by advertising orrecommending fellow artists from any genre and collecting referral feesfor each sale generated through the system.

Group II. In a second group of related embodiments, the invention mayinclude an industry portal where industry professionals including, forexample, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, producers, industryexecutives, corporate management, investors and the like, or otherinterested parties may browse and shop for talent, available creativecontent and associated rights thereto for purchase or license directlyfrom the artist or an owner of the right. The associated rights mayinclude manufacturing of compact discs and other media for playing thefinished recordings, distribution of the media, publishing rights,merchandising rights, as well as the copyright, trademark and/or otherIP right in the creative work.

The rights may be outright sold or auctioned according to anyonline/offline auction system. This group of embodiments may thus allowusers (individuals, corporate entities and the like) to peruse adatabase of artistic creations (old, new and existing, finished andunfinished) to find particular works to purchase or license any one ormore of the associated rights. For example, a movie producer may searchthe database to find songs to license for use in an upcoming movie. Arecord distributor might want to obtain the distribution rights to asong for distributing through a retail outlet. A book publisher mayreview a database of fiction to obtain the rights to distribute the book(e.g., Barnes and Noble, Inc., Simon Schuster, etc.).

Group III. A third group of related embodiments is directed to adistribution system (kiosk) for retail establishments, for example(shopping malls, grocery stores, and the like) and/or wholesaledistributors. The kiosk may be a computer-based system, which may accesscompleted artist works (or works in progress) for purchase/licensing bya patron or client. The system may be linked to a master database ofartists' works, in which a patron can select and receive the workthrough any means of distribution offered. For example, the patron canhave a CD custom made to his or her individual tastes. A record outletcould feasibly eliminate inventory and print CD's to order for theircustomers. Moreover, the kiosk may be used by fans/patrons/otherindividuals to participate in project&

Overall System

As shown in FIG. 1, the ArtistShare system invention may include fourmain components: ArtistShare 100, a network (internet) server basedsystem to which artists may post creative works and other projects,ArtistWare 104, which may be a client based application for authors andartists to interact with ArtistShare, IndustryWare 106, preferably aclient based application for industry personnel, for example, includingexecutives from the designated industries associated with variouscreatively produced products, and FanWare 102, a client application forfans and patrons. One skilled in the art will appreciate, however, thatinvention may only include the ArtistShare component to which artists,fans and industry can access and interact with through an Internetportal using, for example, a web browser.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system which may be used for operating the methodsaccording to the various embodiments, and may follow, for example, theclient/server network architecture. Examples of client/server networkarchitecture may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,397,253 and 6,466,937, forexample, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.As shown, a centralized ArtistShare system includes a host 202 incommunication with one or more databases 203. The database may beprovided with the host or may be a separate database and databasemanagement system in communication with the host either directly or viaa network. The host may be in communication with any one or more of aclient computer 204 of an artist, a client computer 206 of an Investor,a client computer 208 of a fan (patron), a client computer 210 of aretail establishment, a client computer 212 of an Industry Professional(individual, entity, or company) and a client computer 214 of amanufacturer (compact discs for example). Each of the clients maycommunicate with the host via a computer network which may comprise theInternet. Communications 218 between the various clients and theInternet may be of any wired or wireless protocol familiar to one ofskill in the art. Moreover, the clients may be any wired or wirelessdevice including but not limited to telephones, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), an email device (e.g., Blackberry device), personalcomputer, kiosk, television, any future means of communication and thelike.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that the computer systemsoutlined above which may be used with any of the embodiments of theinvention, may include various hardware and operating software, familiarto those of skill in the art, for running software programs, browsingthe Internet, communicating and/or operating with any device, including,for example, a printer, a display, a keyboard, a mouse, a modem, aphone, a wireless device, the Internet, a computer network, a soundsystem, and any other internal or external device. Such computer systemmay also include RAM memory, ROM memory, at least one hard-drive, otherstorage media, and other internal and external components which may beused for carrying out the operation of the computer and embodiments ofthe present invention. Moreover, such computer systems may include oneor more processors for processing and controlling the operation of thecomputer system, thus, embodying the processes of the variousembodiments of the present invention. To that end, the processor,associated hardware and/or communications may be a means forcarrying_(.) out the various method embodiments.

The ArtistShare system may provide products and services to any one ormore of artists, fans, patrons, investors, industry (retail outlets,distributors, recording companies, corporations, and the like) or otherinterested parties. The interaction among these groups enables each ofthe groups either separately or collectively to create, finance, sell,buy, distribute and invest in new creative works (music, film,photography, paintings, books, software and the like).

The ArtistShare system may be setup and run on the World-Wide-Web, thususing a plurality of websites and web pages, using, for example, html,xml and java programming, to establish the system according to theinvention and perform the methods according to the embodiments.Overviews of web pages for these embodiments are shown in FIGS. 6-62,and the associated written description included below. Using suchwebsites and associated web pages and services, the respective users ofthe system may register a respective account with the ArtistShare hostto access content of Artists, for example. However, public web pages andweb services of the ArtistShare system, which may not require anaccount, may be available so that an individual can peruse publiclyavailable material of artists. This public material allows theindividual to make a determination on whether they should register anaccount with an artist. In some embodiments, for example, fans maycreate fan accounts, industry professionals may create industryaccounts, and artists may create artist accounts and the like. Eachaccount may be type specific, in that services offered by one accountare only available to that type of account. For example, artist accountsmay only allow projects to be posted for funding. Fan/Patron accountsmay only allow purchasing of patronage to artist websites associatedwith the ArtistShare system and the purchase of associated goods.Industry accounts may only allow access to web pages for investing,licensing, purchasing of rights to created works. Information entered onthe web pages or through web services for each account is tracked andstored in one or more databases.

Each of the client-based applications may also include an audio andvideo file management system/software (AV system) which may be used inconjunction with or operate complimentary to the ArtistShare system. TheAV system allows for creation of streaming and downloadable media in anyavailable or future format including MP3, WindowsMedia, WAV, AIR, AVI,MPEG, and Flash (for example), from files and from audio CDs. The AVsystem for ArtistWare, for example, may also allow uploading of mediafrom an artist directly to an artist account on the ArtistShare system.ArtistWare may also manage a locally stored database of the artist'screations, which, though additional features such as CD burningcapabilities, may be archived and physically distributed.

Group I Embodiments

The computer system utilizing a client-server architecture, as outlinedabove, may be used in the embodiments of Group I to operate applicationsoftware for presenting offers to users on a client computer, forentitlements and/or patronage levels from the artist in exchange forcapital for a project of the artist. The capital may be used to fund theproject, where the project may include one or more creative works of theartist (or other artists), Entitlements may be any product, serviceand/or benefit conferred from the artist or other party to the user. Theusers, through the client computer, can accept (or reject) the offer,thereby sending data back to the server for such acceptance. The serverapplication then processes the acceptance, thereby the capital may beprovided from the user via the client by using a credit card, debitcard, check, wire transfer, or any other Internet payment methodfamiliar to those of skill in the art. The entitlement may be providedat any time dictated by a specific offer thus, it may be provided at apredetermined times, or at various predetermined intervals. Accordingly,these embodiments (along with other embodiments) are detailed below withreference to a web-based system for providing the offers for differententitlements to clients.

To that end, the various components of the ArtistShare system allow fora business paradigm that focuses on the artist. Accordingly, as shown inFIG. 3, an artist account 300 may include an artist account manager 302,and one or more artist members 304, 306, 308 and 310. The artist maycomprise a single person (musician, writer, actor, educator, programmer,artist, manager, and the like) or an entity (such as a band). Inaddition, the artist also preferably designates at least one individual(Artist Member) to be an Account Manager who acts as an Administrator onthe account. The Account Manager may create artist Member accounts ofpeople associated with the artist. Artist Members may be anyoneauthorized by the artist or the Account Manager to manipulate the artistaccount.

A project may be private (for Artist Members) and may be public (forFans/Patrons/Industry/Investor), and preferably, a combination thereof.In that way, the artist may use the private portion to organize histhoughts and goals (both creatively and financially), and either allowthe public to see this process or keep it private.

The artist may create one or more projects 312, 314 and 316, eachrepresenting a creative work or works being developed or promoted by theartist. It is these projects for which the artist may seek to eitherfinance or market to fans, industry professionals and like. Each projectis preferably owned outright by the artist and may include, for example,one more sales containers 318, 320 and/or 322, which may representproducts and services which may be sold or licensed to interestedparties. These products and services may also be included asentitlements to a user. The cost of a product or service (i.e.,entitlement) may be used then to fluid a project.

Sales containers, which may include but are not limited to:

-   -   auction containers,    -   sales item containers,    -   subscription series containers,    -   subscription access containers,    -   pay-per view containers,    -   licensing containers, and    -   patron sponsorship containers,        which may be used to organize and present artist works and        entitlements to interested parties.

Each sales container may include a core set of information describingthe offering, the pricing structure, as well as any additionalattributes specific to the container type. The products and servicesoffered in the sales containers may be comprised of one or moreinventory items 324 and 330, for example. The completed sales containerbecomes the product.

For example a subscription series container may include services whichdeliver news, information, products and services to an individual on aregular basis. Accordingly, song bytes, video bytes, press-releases, andother assorted artist information may be delivered to an individualdaily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly, for example.

A sales item container, for example, may include a combination ofinventory items such as downloadable songs, sheet music for the songsand a one hour telephone lesson by the artist on songwriting techniqueswhich is purchased once and delivered to the patron both immediately(download songs and scores) and at a later date (scheduled time fortelephone lesson).

Inventory items may include two parts: an inventory record (database)326, 332, and an associated physical item (computer file, page, actualphysical item that can be delivered to the customer through any meansavailable). In the database each inventory item may be associated with agiven sales type . A sales type may be, for example, available item (theitem already exists) or pre-sate item (the item does not yet exist).

Thus, as shown in the figure, inventory items may include (for example)downloadable files 328 (such as an MP3 file of a song the artist hasproduced or a text document on a chapter of a novel if the artist is awriter). An inventory item may also be a physical product 334 such as acompact disc or work of art, which may be delivered via courier to theindividual making the purchase. An inventory item could be a service 337offered by the artist such as a private lesson over the telephone or apersonalized birthday phone call.

To create an inventory item, for example, a first step may be to createan inventory item record in an inventory database by an artist. Thedatabase may include respective fields for the inventory item includinga sales type, the name of the item, the description, the copyrightinformation, product category, delivery method, item availability date,and a shipping sin and weight, if required (for example). Next, theartist may upload an associated inventory file (for a product concerninga file download , streaming media or any other computer based deliverymethod).

Moreover, each inventory item may be obtained either freely (forpromotion), or may be purchased as specified by the artist (forexample). Accordingly, a shopping cart feature is preferablyincorporated with the ArtistShare system for fans to purchase suchinventory items via sales containers from the Artists.

Accordingly, embodiments of the invention center around the ArtistShareweb-based application. As briefly described earlier, ArtistShare is anapplication which allows artists to list projects to solicit financingand/or market to their fans, industry professionals, investors and/orthe public at large. By registering an account with ArtistShare, anartist may set up projects (the authored works), for fans/patrons tocontribute financing and/or set up access for currently availableprojects. Registering with the ArtistShare application may also includeother features for an artist including, for example, facilities andprocesses for designing and implementing a website/home page (andassociated web-pages) for the artist for fans and the public to view.Fans and the public may be able to view such artist home pages uponregistration with the ArtistShare system. Registration allowsadministrators of the network to collect data on the individuals viewingthe site so that operators/owners of the ArtistShare system as well asthe artist, industry professional and other interested parties can gainuseful demographic, Marketing and other information.

The basic flow of an artist raising capital for a project is illustratedin FIG. 5. Using this system, a musical artist (for example) having anidea for creating a new musical work 501 for registers with ArtistShareand obtains an artist account 502 so that he may raise the capital forfinancing the new work through his current and future fans. With hisArtistShare account, he may create a new project for his idea 504, andpresent it to fans. For the new project, the artist may devise a planfor financing the new work. He may create one or more levels ofparticipation for a fan to contribute money for the project. For eachlevel of participation, the artist may also create correspondingentitlements for the fan in exchange for the contribution.Alternatively, the artist may have already produced the musical work,and has instead listed the completed work as a new project for fans topurchase.

With regard to a project not yet produced, an artist may accept funds ina “pre-sale” 506 environment (i.e., prior to the musical work beingcompleted and ready for distribution to the public). The pre-salecontributions may be a traditional sale, where a predetermined cashamount is contributed, or the sale may be a subscription service, wherethe fan pays for access to, for , example, recording session videos, jamsessions and the like. Such subscription access maybe a subscriptionseries where there are a series of media about the production of thework which the fan may be able to review at different points in thedevelopment / production cycle.

Entitlements 510 may also be auctioned off to fans. For example, a “dayin the studio” with the artist may be sold or auctioned to the highestbidder. Or, tickets to the artist on his next tour, an autographed“limited edition” digital disc, and the like, may all be auctioned forobtaining the resulting capital that an artist wishes for the particularproject.

Other methods of raising the capital may include patron sponsorship,where for a predetermined (preferably a large amount) amount of capital,the sponsorship would enable the contributing fan to be listed as a“producer” of the project of the artist.

The contributions to the project may also be obtained through alicensing model. In such an arrangement, generally, the results of theproject, i.e., rights to the recorded work, are licensed, for example,to a record company, a distribution company, merchandising company, andthe like.

Additional incentives and perks may be provided to the registered,contributing patrons prior to the release of the project,

Some of the embodiments described above may be used to raise capital andexemplify the many capabilities of the ArtistShare system. One skilledin the art will appreciate, however, that any method of raising capitalmay be incorporated for use with the invention.

Through the registration of fans, the artist builds a fan database 508,which may include the names, addresses, phones and email addresses offans. Such a database may be shared/sold/licensed to others artists orthird parties.

The released project may be added to a pool of creative work to sell orlicense the corresponding rights to the work 516.

Upon the completion of the project, the creative idea is brought tofruition and is now a product (e.g., a song or collection of songsalbum) 512, which may then be distributed to the patrons who contributedto the project (pre-sale customers) 514. The product may then bedistributed post release in at least the methods described for thepre-release sales (i.e., traditional sales item, subscription access,subscription series, auction, patron sponsorship, licensing and thelike) 518. The product may be the same as the product that was purchasedpre-sale, or may be a different product. For example, the pre-saleproduct may contain special content for those fans that contributed tothe project. Specifically, the special content may be enveloped in a“limited edition” digital disc which includes video footage of therecording sessions, or special tracks not available in the post-releaseproduct.

What the present embodiments allows for in this example is the artist topay for recording, producing and mastering costs, and collect a profit,with only a limited number of products sold. For example, an artistestimates that he will need $30,000 to record, produce, mix, create amaster recording and burn compact discs to distribute. He also wouldlike to make a $70,000 profit on the project by the end of the firstyear of sales. Thus, a total financial goal for the project is $100,000.If the artist used a recording company for the project, in order torecoup the recording and production cost and collect a profit of$70,000, at a rate of $0.45 per CD, the artist would need to sell about155,555 CDs. However, if the artist used the ArtistShare systemaccording to the invention, the artist would only need to sell about7,370 CDs to recoup recording and production costs and collect the$70,000 profit. This figure depends only on the sales of CDs alone, anddoes not take into account other sources of revenue (e.g, subscriptionservices, merchandising) from the project for the artist. To that end,the number of CD sales needed for an artist to profit $70,000 may be farless if the artist takes advantage of patron sponsorships, fansubscriptions, auctions and corporate sponsorship opportunitiesavailable through the ArtistShare system.

One oldie features of the present invention is a patronage level system.Accordingly, for projects (or other completed works), there may belevels of patronage/sponsorship, with each level of patronage reflectinga minimum/maximum predetermined monetary contribution and correspondingentitlement(s).

For example, an artist having an ArtistShare account decides to embarkon a new recording project which they list on ArtistShare using themechanisms associated with the various web pages described above.Fans/patrons are then allowed to join the project at various levels ofparticipation (to become patrons). For example, for $15, a fan/patronmay be guaranteed a downloadable recording of the final project. Athigher participation levels, the fan/patron might, say, receive anautographed picture of the artist, or even be invited to attend therecording sessions and participate as an executive producer in theproject.

Below is an example of a list of levels of patronage of a projectaccording to an embodiment of the invention. The following examplesinclude possible products/entitlements which an artist may provide tofans in exchange for a preferably predetermined cash amount (or othercontribution):

-   -   Basic Patron $10—Entitlements may include:        -   First to download the artist's latest release;        -   A listing on the album page as making the recording            possible, personalized correspondence from the band.        -   Discounted CDs,        -   Auto email notification of artist concerts near you.    -   Level II Sponsor $20—Entitlements may include:        -   Same entitlements as the $10 level, but also include special            T-shirt, Cap,        -   Lighter, and Coffee Mug only for patrons of the latest            record.    -   Level III Sponsor $40—Entitlements may include:        -   Same entitlements as the $20 level, and also includes            limited edition monogrammed CD packaging for patrons with            name listed on artist's website, Collector's item quality            packaging.    -   Level W Sponsor: $60—Entitlements may include:        -   Same entitlements as the Level III patron, but also includes            listing on artist's home page as sponsor.    -   Level V Sponsor: $100—Entitlements may include:        -   Same entitlements as the Level IV, but also includes two            tickets to a concert near the patron.    -   Sponsorships (corporate/patron or otherwise):        -   An individual or entity donating $10,000 (for example) for            patron sponsorship may be listed as executive producer. This            may be limited to a predetermined number of sponsors.    -   Contest Entry: $15—Entitlements may include:        -   enter to win and spend a day in the recording studio with            the artist and be listed as a platinum sponsor;        -   access to special section of artist's website where the fan            can listen to streamed unreleased live or studio            performances;        -   view the live ‘Studio Cam’ to see how the record is going;        -   preview new songs before anyone; and/or        -   view a video guitar lesson from the band's guitarist.

Still other levels of patron sponsorship may include displaying patronnames dynamically on the artist's web page, giving patrons a choice oflimited edition album covers, special vinyl releases (which aredifficult to pirate), and an album cover design contest.

Money contributed by fan/patron may be placed in an escrow, to protectthe interests of both the fan/patron and the artist. If an escrow isused, upon completion of the project and upon the patron receiving theentitlement(s) corresponding to the patronage level, the capital in theescrow account is turned over to the artist. Alternatively, each artistmay be established as a merchant, where thesales/contributions/entitlements are managed as the sale of products andservices with a, for example, shopping cart feature. Under the merchantsales model, the artist may receive the contribution directly.

For a new project, when the artist has reached his financial goal (forexample) for the project, the project may be then produced. Dailyupdates on the process may be available to patrons of the project, whichfor this example may include rough mixes from the recording session andvideo clips. Once the recording, mixing and mastering of the project iscomplete, the artist may upload their newly finished album to theArtistShare system. In some embodiments of the present invention, theproject may be started prior to completing the artist's financial goal,and/or prior to any patronage to the project.

For this example, Patrons may receive downloadable files of the finishedcompact discs. Patrons may also receive a file which allows them to buman enhanced CD/DVD (enhanced disc), containing the complete album plusouttakes, photos, and video. The enhanced disc may only available tothose who subscribed to the project (e.g., patrons). Any commercialrelease of the recording will only contain the music, and thus theenhanced disc becomes something of a “collector's item”, although theenhanced version may be released commercially as well.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that an owner and/or operator ofthe ArtistShare system, in order to operate the network, may collectfees from artists and/or users (fans, patrons, industry, investors,etc.) to use the system. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, apercentage of one or more transactions carried out between users and theartist may be collected by the operator of the ArtistShare account. Thetransactions may include, for example, the contribution made to anartist by a fan, the license fees for a work paid by the industryprofessional in distributing the work to the general public in a retaillocation, promotional material, and whatever else the artist maysell/license to users of the ArtistShare system.

FIGS. 6-62 illustrate, for example, attributes of one or more web pagesand/or one or more links for embodiments of the present invention. Oneof skill in the art will appreciate, that access to some pages may bedictated by registering an account with the ArtistShare system. Theregistration process may use existing security-logon features, where auser may succeed logging onto the system or fail. Accordingly, suchlogon attributes are shown in the figures as illustrative and examplepurposes only, and may or may not be used with the other attributesillustrated in the respective figure.

Accordingly, FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of one or more web pagesand/or one or more links for management of the artist account accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the artist logsinto the account, which may be at the ArtistShare home page. With asuccessful login, an individual is preferably designated by the artistto have administrative rights for managing the account (Manager).

When the Manager then gains access to the account, the link to theadministrative pages may be active. This link may lead the Manager toother links for opening existing projects, creating new projects,managing a home page for the artist, generating reports, managing mediathat the artist has collected or created, and managing other aspect ofthe account (e.g., financials, promotion, and the like).

FIG. 7 illustrates attributes one or more web pages and/or one or morelinks of Open Projects. When directed to the associated web-pagescorresponding to this link, the Manager may obtain information such asoverall Project Information (FIG. 8) which includes, for example, theproject name and type of project the project type (e.g., song, album,book, photo, painting, video, movie), language of the project, projectdescription, start date and estimated completion date, prospectiverelease date, the project status and progress (e.g., a diary of what hasbeen completed/planned), a revenue goal and revenue to date.

An inventory link directs the ArtistManager to web pages related to theinventory items of the project. As shown in FIG. 9, such web-pages mayinclude identification information for the inventory item (name anddescription), the sales type of the inventory item (pre-sale, existingitem, etc.), copyright information (e.g., has a copyright registrationbeen applied for, who holds the copyright, and the like), the categoryof the item (e.g., text, mp3, mpeg, pdf and the like), the deliverymethod for the item (e.g., download, courier, telephone, etc.), shippinginformation if a directly shipped item (size and weight), and a link forallowing a file (e.g., music, text, photo, video) to be uploaded to theartist's account.

FIGS. 10-13 describe different possible sales containers. With salescontainers the ArtistManager can create products to offer by addingselected inventory items to the selected Sales Container type anddefining the specific Sales Container attributes. These attributes maydiffer depending on the type of Sales Container chosen.

FIG. 10 illustrates the attributes one or more web pages and/or one ormore links of the auction sales container fink for an open project. Sucha web-page(s) may include information such as a name for the auction,description, the inventory item or items involved in the auction,quantities, the starting and ending dates (duration), a starting price,reserve price and instant purchase price (e.g., “buy now”), andcorresponding photo/text to be posted for the auctioned item. Any numberof currently available online auction techniques may be employed withinvention, as well as proprietary techniques and newly developedtechniques reverse auctions.

FIG. 11 illustrates the attributes one or more web pages and/or one ormore links of the patron sponsor sales container link for an openproject. Such a web-page(s) may include information such as a patronsponsor title, a description of the entitlement(s), a list of inventoryavailable to add to the sales container, the quantities, limits, thebase unit price, quantity or priority discounts, a photo and the likefor the patron sponsor sales container.

The artist project may also include subscription services forfans/patrons. Accordingly, FIG. 12 illustrates attributes one or moreweb pages and/or one or more links of information on subscriptions foran open project. Such information generally includes a display name forthe subscription, description of the subscription(s) available,inventory available for subscription, the quantities, limits, accesstimes, delivery schedules and the like for the subscription.

FIG. 13 illustrates the attributes one or more web pages and/or one ormore links for the licensing sales container link contained on the openprojects web page. Similar to the information available on the otheropen-project web-pages, the information may include a display name ortitle, the inventory available to add to the sales container ,information regarding all available inventory, and information regardingthe quantities, prices, discounts and the like may also be included.

The account Manager may also access and manage personnel for the account(FIG. 14). Specifically, the Manager may add, delete, and edit personnelfor the project in one or more categories. Such personnel may includeband members of the artist (if the artist is a band), production crew,producer(s), instrument playing personnel, and the like. The Manager mayalso use this link to add, edit or delete personnel categories.

A News link for an open project allows the Manager to manage pressreleases, the artist's daily journal, and other news informationregarding the artist for the project (FIG. 15). Thus, such informationmay include the available article list (to promote the artist), theability to added, edit, create, delete and or remove an article from thenews section.

FIG. 16 illustrates attributes one or more web-pages and/or one or morelinks for mailing list management, where the Manager can import andexport names for a mailing list, direct announcements and also createdifferent mail list categories. The ability to manage such informationmay be performed using dropdown menus and the like. One skilled in theart will appreciate, however, that any method of managing mailing listsmay be incorporated with the other features of the invention.

One of the features of an artist account with ArtistShare, is theability to create, edit and delete media shows (audio, video etc.preferably pre-recorded, but may also be live) which preferably isrelated to the artist. This, of course, is very convenient for allartists, especially musical recording artists who wish to createInternet radio shows. The overview of the attributes one or more webpages and/or one or more links for a project in this regard isillustrated in FIG. 17 and FIG. 21.

For creating a new project, as shown in FIG. 18, the Account Manager mayselect a link directing him to a “Create Project” web page. This linkmay direct the manager to a web page where the Manager may enterinformation related to a new project's name, description, type, goals,estimated start date, finish date and release date.

The link for managing a website/home page of the artist is illustratedin FIG. 19. A web-page for managing such information may includeattributes for one or more web-pages and/or one or more links associatedwith guidance for uploading photos, music, video and the like to theartist's web account, and links for adding, editing, and deletingweb-links to be included on the artist's home page, and links foradding, editing and removing text, news articles, feature projects,biographical and event information on the artist homepages. Thisinformation, for example, could be syndicated via Web Services toprovide content other web sites, possibly in a variety of languages, orto the Artist's own pre-existing web site. The Artist Share database maybe used as the one centralized location for storing all data relating toan artist.

Other management features include the ability to manage the generationof reports for the various aspects of the account. For example, throughthe link “Generate reports” on the account management page for theartist, the manager may generate, view and or print reports related tosales of current items, including sales history and the like, personnelreports, patron reports, reports on streaming requests (audio andvideo), feedback reports, and the like. An overview of the attributesfor the one or more web pages and/or one or more links is illustrated inFIG. 20.

More specifically the Manager may also link to a web page to viewinformation about patrons of the artist (FIG. 20). Patron informationmay be made available to industry personnel, investors, or otherinterested parties to determine the popularity, for example, of theartist. Such information generally may include the name and description(age, sex, photo, location) of the patron, inventory to which arespective patron (or all patrons) have selected either through directpurchase of a completed project, or financing the project in some way.The information contained on this page may also include description ofall the inventory available to patrons, the ability of the Manager tolimit purchased quantities of inventory items, discounts to the patrons.

The Manage Media Shows link may direct a Manager to a web page and/orlinks (FIG. 21) having attributes where the manager can create, edit,remove and delete media shows created from uploaded streaming mediainventory content.

The Manage Account link may direct the Manager to a web-page and/orlinks (FIG. 22) having attributes for one or more web-pages and/or oneor more links for viewing and managing billing information includingcredit card and mailing address information of the Artist. This page mayalso include attributes for managing the Artist's affiliate program, aswell as the ability to add users to the account (e.g., add/editadministrative information, add/edit/remove other user information).This page may also include attributes to perform any other Artistaccount management feature.

FIG. 23A illustrates attributes of one or more web-pages and/or linksfor patrons and fans who access a home page of the ArtistShare system.Accordingly, a fan can access the ArtistShare home page and view publicweb pages of the Artists. Upon registration with ArtistShare, the fan,(now a patron) may then access a member area which generally includesmore features and content. Patrons, of course, may change their accountinformation or a level of membership upon selection of an accountmanagement link which directs the patron to a web page for changing suchinformation (for example).

As shown in FIG. 23B, ArtistShare public pages may include a home page,which links to direct the non-member to one or more web-pages includingfeatured projects, downloads, a member login area, media shows, featuredartists, featured auctions, artist home pages, artist project pages, anda news and events page. The home page (FIG. 24) generally includes amain navigation menu with the above-described links. The featuredproject page (FIG. 25) may include a list of links to such featuredprojects, which may comprise links to the artist's homepage whoseproject is being featured. The download page (FIG. 26) may include linksfor downloading various files, with each link including a descriptivecomponent for information about the file (e.g., song, movie trailer). Ofcourse, the login link may direct a user to a login screen (FIG. 27)where a registered member may enter usename and password information tologin to the ArtistShare member areas. The media show link may direct auser to a menu of links (FIG. 28), or a searchable database, of freelyavailable media shows. Similar to the featured project web page, thefeatured artist link would direct the user to a web page (FIG. 29), forexample, having a listing of links to web-pages of the featured artists;such pages may be the home page of the artist, or other predeterminedweb-page of the artist.

FIG. 30 illustrates attributes of one or more web pages and/or one ormore links regarding featured auctions. The attributes may include amain navigation menu, a description/summary of the featured auction, anda link to the auction (e.g., to the selected artist's auction productpage).

FIG. 31 illustrates the attributes of one or more web pages and/or oneor more links to artists' homepages. Accordingly, these attributes mayinclude a main navigation menu, photo of the artist, a link to featuredproducts of the artists, links to free downloads, free audio/video(streaming), links to open projects, links to archived projects andlinks to externally hosted pages of artists.

FIG. 32 illustrates attributes of one or more web-pages and/or one ormore links to project pages of artists, including descriptions,streaming audio (“Listen”), and video (“Watch”), downloads, news(“Read”), personnel (e.g., band members, collaborators, etc.), patrons,artists' media shows, and to a page for registering with an artist(“Join”).

FIG. 33-41 illustrate the attributes of one or more web pages and/or oneor more links to the various web-pages/links associated with theattributes of the artists project pages (FIG. 32). Thee attributesgenerally include a main navigation panel, project navigation panel, anda project progress meter, for tracking the progress of a project. Otherattributes include lists for projects which include: streaming audio(FIG. 34), streaming video (FIG. 35), downloads (FIG. 36), news articles(FIG. 37), project personnel (FIG. 38), patrons (FIG. 39) includingoptional links to patron web-pages (which may be part of the ArtistSharesystem), media shows (FIG. 40), lists of products to purchase/bid onwhich may include product descriptions, patron levels and quantities.

FIG. 42 illustrates the attributes of one or more web pages and/or oneor more links for ArtistShare News and Events public pages and mayinclude a main navigation link and a short description and a listing ofcurrent ArtistShare news and events thereof.

Member ArtistShare pages (FIGS. 43-49) may be similar to the publicpages (and may be arranged the same as the public available pages),except that they may offer premium content and higher levels of accessto media including news, downloads, offers and events. Member pages mayalso include shopping cart and auction pages for e-commercetransactions, as well as the purchase of artist products and associatedmerchandise. FIGS. 43-49 illustrate examples of the attributes that maybe associated with web pages for member pages.

However, members of ArtistShare may be able to sign-up with variousartists to become patrons of the artists. A patron is a fan whoregisters with an artist (for example through the ArtistShare system)and who provides a monetary contribution to a project of an artist inexchange for certain entitlements. Although an embodiment of theinvention includes monetary contribution, other contributions arepossible for certain fans who may contribute to the production of theproject by either providing production assistance, including, forexample, providing musical instruments, a studio, vocals, playingability, musical arrangement, song writing, mixing, mastering and thelike. Also, a fan, patron, or any interested individual, may purchaseinventory items associated with completed projects.

FIGS. 50-57 illustrate the attributes for one or more web pages and/orone or more links which may be used to manage accounts for fans and/orpatrons. These attributes include a web-page(s) and/or link(s) topersonal information (FIG. 51), purchased subscriptions (FIG. 52),mailing list subscribe and unsubscribe functions (FIG. 53), a list ofpurchases (FIG. 54), current and closed auctions the patron is involvedin (FIG. 55), a feedback form to give feedback to ArtistShare ordirectly to the Artist (FIG. 56) and stored payment information such ascredit card or wire transfer information for purchases (FIG. 57).

FIGS. 58-62 illustrate attributes of one or more web pages and/or one ormore links associated with accounts for industry professionals,investors, and the like. These attributes may include perusing andselecting media of artists (FIG. 59), accessing statistics associatedwith an artist, project and/or media (for example) including sales, hitson web pages, demographics, and fan base statistics (FIG. 60). Aweb-page(s) and/or link(s) may also be provided to host private auctionsby artists to industry professionals or investors. (FIG. 61). One ormore web-pages and/or one or more links for account management (FIG.62), allows an industry individual or investor to manage his account andmay be similar to those of a Fan Account Management pages (FIGS. 50-57).

Group II Embodiments

Rather than turning over the copyright, publishing right, manufacturingrights, merchandising rights and/or distribution rights to a third party(a record company in this example), other related embodiments of theinvention include the selling/auctioning or licensing rights of aproject by the artist through ArtistShare.

Interested parties may access one or more databases of completedprojects via the ArtistShare server (host), for example, which specifythe availability of various rights for sale, auction or license, whichmay be interacted with via a client computer of an interested party.Thus, the interested party (e.g., industry professional, investor) mayquery the database to find particular projects and apply the query to afield of the database which in this case may include the type of music,the name of the artist, the age of the artist, the gender of the artist,lengths of songs, lengths of albums, and the like. The results mayreturn a list of available projects having rights available for sale orlicense. Each project may include a hyperlink to a webpage for theproject, which may include the rights available for sale or license, anda detailed description of the project.

Thus, record companies, distributors, merchandisers and retail storesmay either buy out-right or bid on the exclusive manufacturing,distribution, publishing rights to ArtistShare projects. This allowsthem to release a packaged, commercial product (compact disc of therecording) in retail outlets (record stores). Parties purchasing orlicensing such rights reduce risk of investing as they'll be able tomonitor a product's potential success based upon it's online success(e.g., artist popularity with fans, hits on pages, etc.).

The ArtistShare system may include one or more software based tools (forexample) for allowing an interested party in gauging whether the rightsto a project may be worth purchasing or licensing. Specifically, in anembodiment of the invention, the tools may analyze certain aspects ofthe projects and artist (e.g., tracking such aspects). These aspects mayinclude but are not limited to past sales of other projects, number ofpatronage, demographics of patronage, hits associated with the projectand/or other web-pages of the artist, and the like. These aspects, asone of skill in the art will appreciate, are tacked by various databases(remote or local) upon which the ArtistShare server communicates with.Accordingly, these aspects may be also be queried to return results ofthe degree of popularity amongst fans, industry professionals, otherartist, etc. Thus, by using such queries, an interested party maydetermine the likely success of a project.

Accordingly, in the present group of embodiments, a method of managing aright in a creative work is provided and may be operable on aclient-server computer system as previously described. The method mayinclude collecting information on a plurality of creative works in adatabase. Each of the creative works may include one or morecorresponding rights (distribution, publishing, IP, and the like) forsale or license. The database may then be searched by interestedindividuals for specific creative works having rights being offered forsale or license. Upon finding a particular creative work, the interestedindividual can purchase or license a corresponding right.

Group III Embodiments

FIG. 4 illustrates one possible embodiment of Group III, which mayinclude a system provided in a retail or distribution setting, which islinked to an ArtistShare database (preferably a live-online connection,however, a localized database which is routinely updated may also beused). The system may include a library of available content fromArtists of ArtistShare. Such a system may be a kiosk.

As shown in FIG. 4, a kiosk 400 includes a processing system 402 thatmay be any computing device capable of being interconnected with theArtistShare host server 418 and an associated one or more databases 420,via, for example, the Internet 422. According, the computing device maybe a personal computer with a high-speed connection (DSL, cable, T-1),containing the usual computer hardware (e.g., processor, RAM and ROMmemory, hard-drive, removable media drive(s), keyboard, mouse, display,loudspeaker, and the like), or a custom designed kiosk system havingsimilar equipment to allow processing of information (e.g., processingsystem 402. The equipment allows graphical-user-interface software toproduce a graphical user interface 404 on a display to operate thereonso that users of the system can interact with the ArtistShare system andquery the relevant databases to find media (songs and albums forexample) for any artist and/or media type. Customers may then select oneor more media items for preview or purchase. Accordingly, after themedia items are selected, a media creator 406 may be provided (e.g.,software for creating digital copies onto readable mediums like, forexample, burning CDs and the like) allowing the digital information ofthe selected items to be placed on media for purchase. Accordingly, theitems may be stored on any type of media storage device havingsufficient memory. Thus, the kiosk may include a floppy drive 408 tostore media on 3½″ disks, a DVD burner 410 to burn DVDs, a CD burner 412to bum CDs, and a chip “burner” 414, which may store information to amemory chip, including, for example, smartmedia, memory stick, andcompact flash cards, for example, or any other future medium for datastorage. Alternatively, via the media creator 406, or via the processor,the digital media may be downloaded via an output 416 to a user devicesuch as an MP3 player, for example. The connection between the userdevice and the kiosk may be any digital connection including serial,parallel, fireware, USB and the like or any future method oftransferring and/or storing data.

Thus upon the kiosk being placed in any retail/distribution environment(a consumer music store or distribution warehouse for example), acustomer or client using the graphical-user-interface may be able toselect songs from a database of available content where the system mayestablish the number of songs to be copied based on each song that isselected (e.g., 1-20) and then have them burned onto a CD, right there.The completed product is presented to the user within a short period oftime (e.g., 5-15 minutes,—as technology progresses, this time is likelyto be substantially shortened.), sent via courier to a specifiedaddress, available for immediate transfer to a personal device ordelivered using any present or future technology.

The kiosk system may be used in the alternative to a client workstationfor a fan, patron or other individual, allowing one using the kiosksystem to register with an artist on the ArtistShare system, and makecontributions and/or receive entitlements (burned CD/DVD). The kiosksystem may also be any computer system configuration which allows anyone(artist or industry) to present artists' works for license or sale wherethe artist and artist's work information is accessed, media is presentedfor preview or purchase, requests for media and information are trackedand sales are generated.

Having now described a few embodiments of the invention, it should beapparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing is merelyillustrative and not limiting, having been presented by way of exampleonly. Numerous modifications and other embodiments are within the scopeof ordinary skill in the art and are contemplated as falling within thescope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and equivalentsthereto. The contents of any references cited throughout thisapplication are hereby incorporated by reference. The appropriatecomponents, processes, and methods of those documents may be selectedfor the invention and embodiments thereof.

1. A system, comprising: one or more servers, at least one of the one ormore servers being capable of communicating with a first user device, asecond user device, and a third user device, and configured to: receive,from the first user device, first project information regarding a firstproject of one or more artists and first container informationassociated with the first project, wherein the first containerinformation comprises a description, of a first associated entitlement;create one or more first at least partially-user-editable databaserecords relating to the first project based on the first projectinformation and the first container information, wherein the one or morefirst at least partially-user-editable database records comprise: aname, a start date, a goal, a description of the first project, and adescription of the first associated entitlement; store at least one ofthe one or more first at least partially-user-editable database recordsin a database of the one or more servers; receive, from the second userdevice, second project information regarding a second project of one ormore different artists, and second container information associated withthe second project, wherein the second container information comprises adescription of a second associated entitlement; create one or moresecond at least partially-user-editable database records relating to thesecond project based on the second project information, and the secondcontainer information, wherein the one or more second at leastpartially-user-editable database records comprise: a name, a start date,a goal, a description of the second project, and a description of thesecond associated entitlement; store at least one of the one or moresecond at least partially-user-editable database records in the databaseof the one or more servers; transmit or provide, via a network or awebsite: (i) at least a portion of the first project information and atleast a portion of the first container information, and/or (ii) at leasta portion of the second project information and at least a portion ofthe second container information, to the third user device; generate,based on the one or more first at least partially-user-editable databaserecords and/or the one or more second at least partially-user-editabledatabase records stored in the database, one or more reports related tothe first project or the second project, respectively; and transmit orprovide the one or more reports related to the first project to thefirst user device or transmit or provide the one or more reports relatedto the second project to the second user.
 2. A system, comprising: oneor more servers, at least one of the one or more servers being capableof communicating with a first user device and a second user device, andconfigured to: receive, from the first user device, project informationregarding a project of one or more artists and container informationassociated with the project, wherein the container information comprisesa description of an associated entitlement; create one or more at leastpartially-user-editable database records relating to the project basedon the project information and the container information, wherein theone or more at least partially-user-editable database records comprise:a name, a start date, a goal, a description of the project, and adescription of the associated entitlement; store at least one of the oneor more at least partially-user-editable database records in a databaseof the one or more servers; and transmit or provide, via a network or awebsite, at least a portion of the project information and at least aportion of the container information, to the second user device.
 3. Thesystem according to claim 2, wherein the one or more at leastpartially-user-editable database records further comprise: a type ofproject and an estimated completion date.
 4. The system according toclaim 2, wherein the at least one of the one or more servers is furtherconfigured to transmit or provide, via the network or the website, offerdata associated with the entitlement to the second user device.
 5. Thesystem according to claim 4, wherein the offer data comprises at leastone of: auction data, point of sale data, subscription data, licensedata, pre-sale data, and/or sponsorship data.
 6. The system according toclaim 4, wherein the at least one of the one or more servers is furtherconfigured to: after transmitting or providing the offer data to thesecond user device, receive acceptance data from the second user device;and when the acceptance data is received: store an indication that auser of the second user device is a patron of the project; and transmitor provide an indication that a container has been associated with theuser.
 7. The system according to claim 5, wherein the at least one ofthe one or more servers is further configured to: after transmitting orproviding the offer data to the second user device, receive acceptancedata from the second user device; and when the acceptance data isreceived: store an indication that a user of the second user device is apatron of the project; and transmit or provide the indication to thesecond user device.
 8. The system according to claim 2, wherein the oneor more at least partially-user-editable database records furthercomprises a type of project, the type of project being at least one of:music, audio, song, album, film, movie, print, written, book, services,visual art, photo, painting, multimedia, video, product, software and/orsyndicated content.
 9. The system according to claim 2, wherein the atleast one of the one or more servers is further configured to, after aproject start date has occurred: calculate a progress of the projectbased on the stored one or more at least partially-user-editabledatabase records.
 10. The system according to claim 2, wherein the atleast one of the one or more servers is further configured to, after aproject start date has occurred: calculate a progress of the projectbased on the stored goal.
 11. The system according to claim 2, whereinthe at least one of the one or more servers are further configured tomanage the one or more at least partially-user-editable database recordsbased on additional information received from the first user device. 12.The system according to claim 2, wherein the one or more at leastpartially-user-editable database records further comprise an indication.that indicates whether a project is an incomplete project, a partiallycomplete project or a completed project.
 13. The system according toclaim 2, wherein the description of the associated entitlement comprisesa description of physical content to be delivered.
 14. The systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the acceptance data comprises anacceptance to an offer.
 15. The system according to claim 2, wherein theassociated entitlement, upon completion of the project, is forwarded toa user of the second user device via at least one of: streaming media,at least one downloadable file, mail order, personal delivery, emailand/or by telephone.
 16. The system according to claim 2, wherein the atleast one of the one or more servers is further configured to: receiveinterest information regarding one or more projects from the first orsecond user device; and store the interest information associated withthe one or more projects.
 17. The system according to claim 16, whereinthe interest information specifies container data.
 18. The systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the associated entitlement comprises atleast one of: access to rough mixes, photos or videos from recordingsessions or outtakes, invitations to recording sessions, and/or accessto sheet music accompanying the work.
 19. The system according to claim2, wherein the at least one of the one or more servers is furtherconfigured to: receive, from the second user device, user input;determine whether the received user input matches at least one keywordassociated with at least one of: the one or more at leastpartially-user-editable database records and/or artists, genres or offerdata associated with the one or more at least partially-user-editabledatabase records; when the received user input matches the at least onekeyword, transmitting or providing, via the network or the website,information associated with the matching keyword.
 20. The systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the associated entitlement comprises atleast one of: a downloadable song, sheet music, scores, music lessoninformation, custom song writing information, personal interaction withartist information, and/or information regarding digital or physicalaccess to the creative work process of a work not yet created, partiallycreated, or fully created.
 21. The system according to claim 2, whereinthe description of the associated entitlement indicates that the userwill receive physical and/or digital content relating to the project.22. The system according to claim 2, wherein the database is asearchable database.
 23. The system according to claim 2, wherein the atleast one of the one or more servers are further configured to convertthe associated entitlement to a digital format.
 24. The system accordingto claim 2, wherein the second user device is capable of displaying thereceived information.
 25. The system according to claim 2, wherein theat least one of the one or more servers is further configured to:generate, based on the stored one or more at leastpartially-user-editable database records, one or more reports related tothe project; and transmit and/or provide, via the network or thewebsite, to the first user device, the one or more reports related tothe project.
 26. The system according to claim 2, wherein the first userdevice comprises one or more first user devices and the second userdevice comprises one or more second user devices.
 27. The systemaccording to claim 26, wherein the one or more first user devices andthe one or more second user devices comprise a wired or wireless device,including: a telephone, a personal digital assistants (PDA), an emaildevice, a personal computer, a kiosk, and a television.
 28. The systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the container information furthercomprises a description of a service or a product.
 29. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the first user device, the second userdevice, and the third user device are the same device.
 30. The systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the receiving, from the first user device,the project information regarding the project of the one or more artistsand the receiving, from the first user device, the container informationassociated with the project are two separate steps.